1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electrocardiograph capable of measuring an electrocardiogram by being carried by a patient, an electrocardiogram monitoring system and an electrocardiogram monitoring method using the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
A portable electrocardiograph is used for a patient having a heart disease to measure an electrocardiogram as he/she leads an everyday life (see, for example JP 2000-279385 A and JP H10-165385 A). This portable electrocardiograph has a function of storing an electrocardiogram of 24 hours of a patient in a memory card as electrocardiogram data. The patient sends the memory card that stores the electrocardiogram data to a diagnostician, such as a doctor or nurse, and the diagnostician makes a diagnosis based on the electrocardiogram data stored in the memory card that is sent. In recent years, portable electrocardiographs connected to a mobile telephone and having a function of transmitting the electrocardiogram data stored in a memory card to the hospital over a telephone line have also been developed.
Meanwhile, therapeutic exercises are being practiced in hospitals by patients, each having monitored by a diagnostician his/her electrocardiogram. During such exercises, one diagnostician accompanies one patient for a diagnosis of the electrocardiogram of the patient, and the diagnostician can stop the patient's exercise when he/she is in bad condition.
However, in the method in which a patient uses the aforementioned portable electrocardiograph to measure his/her electrocardiogram in every day life, the diagnostician makes a diagnosis later based on the electrocardiogram data stored in a memory card. Therefore, the diagnostician cannot immediately stop the patient's exercise as he/she monitors the electrocardiogram of the patient when the patient is in bad condition.
In addition, one diagnostician is occupied with one patient during the aforementioned therapeutic exercise in hospitals. Since the patients having a heart disease are recently on the increase, it is becoming difficult to continue such therapeutic exercises.